The buzz surrounding culinary idol Edna Lewis, the granddaughter of slaves from Virginia, provides a good example of this growing mythology. Like another iconic American figure, Julia Child, Miss Lewis made invaluable contributions to the cuisine of the United States, in particular that of the American South. By recording regional recipes and telling crucially important stories about daily life in the Jim Crow era, Miss Lewis thereby initiated the current conversation about the role of black cooks in American culinary history.